The UFC 235 pay-per-view card was expanded this week with the announcement of a light heavyweight match pitting longtime contender Ovince Saint Preux against the hard-hitting Latvian-Canadian Misha Cirkunov. The two will collide on Saturday, March 2, 2019, inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ovince Saint Preux (23-12) will look to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Dominick Reyes at UFC 229. Prior to that loss, Saint Preux had won four of five fights, all by submission or knockout.
The match will be Cirkunov's stiffest test to date. Since joining the UFC three years ago, Cirkunov is 5-2, with all of his wins coming via knockout or submission. Initially hailed as one of the up-and-coming stars in the light heavyweight division, Cirkunov has stumbled of late. He has lost two of his past three fights to Volkan Oezdemir and Glover Teixeira. However, he is coming off a first-round submission win over Patrick Cummins.
No main event has been announced for UFC 235 as of yet, although there are some intriguing matchups, including the UFC debut of Ben Askren. The former ONE Championship welterweight titleholder will fight ex-UFC champ Robbie Lawler. Former UFC bantamweight champion Holly Holm will fight Aspen Ladd. The former Invicta fighter is 2-0 with two TKOs since joining the UFC.